Components of BI & Data Types

BI Architecture
Components of BI Architecture
1. Data Sources
2. Data Transformation Tools
3. Data Stores
4. Data Query and Analysis Tools
5. Data Presentation and Visualization Tools
Data Sources
• Internal Data Sources: ERP, CRM, Internal departments

• External Data Sources: Business partners, Internet
• Important criteria in the data source selection process
• data relevancy, data currency, data quality and the level of detail in the available data
sets
• Examples of data sources:
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) – stores a large amount of transactional data, which
can be used in BI environments
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – an excellent source of data for BI since these
systems store and analyze customer behavior and important data, such as purchase
activity
• E-Commerce Apps – these apps can be a great source of data for BI since they offer real-
time sales activity
• Other sources are numerous company databases, flat files, web services (apps), etc.
Data Transformation Tools
• Data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tools collect,

filter, integrate, and aggregate data to be saved into a data store.
• This component extracts the data, filters the extracted data to
select the relevant records, and packages the data in the right
format to be added to the data store component.
• Popular data transformation tools: Power Query, IBM DataStage,
Informatica, SAP Data Services…..
Data Stores
• This encompasses the various repositories where BI data is stored and

managed
• For example, data warehouse, which usually stores structured data in a
relational, or multidimensional database and makes it available for querying
and analysis
• An enterprise data warehouse can also be tied to smaller data marts set
up for individual departments and business units with data that's specific to
their BI needs
• A data lake running on a Hadoop cluster or other big data platform can
also be incorporated into a BI architecture as a repository for raw data or
unstructured data
Data Query and Analysis Tools
• This component performs data retrieval, data analysis, and data-mining

tasks using the data stored in the data store.
• This component is used by the data analyst to create the queries that access
the database.
• This tool advises the user on which data to select and how to build a
reliable business data model.
• Examples: SQL, Oracle RDBMS

Data Presentation and Visualization Tools
• This component is used by the data analyst to organize and present the
data to the end user.
• It helps the end user select the most appropriate presentation format,
such as summary report, map, pie or bar graph, or dashboards.
• The query tool and the presentation tool are the front end to the BI
environment.
• Example: Power BI
Ready-Made BI Tools
Read-Made BI Tools
• BI tool providers usually supply users with data integration, ETL,

reporting tools (dashboards), as well as warehousing services.
• Popular Ready-made (Self-service) BI Tools
• Power BI
• Tableau
• SAP
• Qlik
• Sisense
• Zoho Analytics
Data Types
Structured Vs. Unstructured Data
Structured Data Unstructured Data

• Highly organized and formatted • No pre-defined format
• Easily used by business users • Can’t be processed/analyzed via
conventional data tools/methods
• Sources: online forms, network logs, web
server logs, OLAP systems, etc., • Sources: email messages, word-
processing documents, PDF files, etc.
• Storage: Stored in tabular formats (e.g., • Storage: Stored as media files or
Excel sheets or SQL databases) that NoSQL databases, which require more
require less storage space. Generally space. Generally stored in Data lakes
stored in Data warehouses • Tools: Non relational databases
• Tools: OLAP, MySQL (NoSQL), Hadoop
• Examples: dates, names, addresses, • Examples: text data, images, social
credit card numbers, etc. media posts, audio files, etc.
Structured Data
Types of Data
Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio

Nominal Data
• Categorical data
• Data placed in categories according to a specified

characteristic
• Categories bear no quantitative relationship to one another
• Examples:
• customer’s location (America, Europe, Asia)
• employee classification (manager, supervisor, associate)

Ordinal Data
• Data that is ranked or ordered according to some relationship

with one another
• No fixed units of measurement
• Examples:
• college football rankings
• survey responses (poor, average, good, very good, excellent)

Interval Data
• Ordinal data but with constant differences between observations
• No true zero point or fixed beginning (lack of absolute zero)
• Only allows you to see the direction and the difference between the values,
but you can not make statements about their proportion and correlation.
• Examples:
• temperature readings (in degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius)
• dates
Ratio Data
• Numeric values
• Continuous values and have a natural zero point
• Ratios are meaningful
• Examples:
• monthly sales
• delivery times
Comparison
Examples
• Length of arm
• Mode of transportation to office
• Travel time to office
• Money spent at restaurants last year
• City of residence
• Postal code
• Hours slept at night
• Duration of a movie
• Favorite sport
• Date of birth
Classify the above variables as Nominal/Ordinal/Interval/Ratio.

Exercise 1: Salary Packages of Graduating
Students
The data in the given table has been
selected from a management college
that indicates the salary packages and
other details of students who have
graduated from the college.
The variable descriptions are as follows:
• Gender: 0=female; 1=male
• Batch: 2018=1; 2017=2
• Specialization: Marketing=1;
Finance=2; Operations=3; HR=4
• Salary: in INR
Identify the categorical and numerical
variables
Exercise 2
Classify the variables as Nominal/Ordinal/Interval/Ratio.

Components of BI & Data Types

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Components of BI & Data Types

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BI Architecture

• Internal Data Sources: ERP, CRM, Internal departments

• Data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tools collect,

• This encompasses the various repositories where BI data is stored and

• This component performs data retrieval, data analysis, and data-mining

• Examples: SQL, Oracle RDBMS

• BI tool providers usually supply users with data integration, ETL,

Structured Data Unstructured Data

Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio

• Data placed in categories according to a specified

• Categories bear no quantitative relationship to one another

• employee classification (manager, supervisor, associate)

• Data that is ranked or ordered according to some relationship

• No fixed units of measurement

• survey responses (poor, average, good, very good, excellent)

• Ordinal data but with constant differences between observations

• No true zero point or fixed beginning (lack of absolute zero)

• temperature readings (in degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius)

• Continuous values and have a natural zero point

• Ratios are meaningful

Classify the above variables as Nominal/Ordinal/Interval/Ratio.

Classify the variables as Nominal/Ordinal/Interval/Ratio.

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